


My Favorite Valentine

by zavocado



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: And he's raised by his mama Lyanna, Dany is raised by her mama too, F/M, Jon Snow is a Stark, Jonerys, Jonerys Valentine's Day 2019, Jonerys as kids, Jonerysvalentines, Modern AU, My sweet dragonbaes deserve to have moms okay?, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day, kids being cute kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 19:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17793335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zavocado/pseuds/zavocado
Summary: Dany was convinced that handing out Valentine's Day cards to all the kids in her class was stupid.Just like boys were stupid.Especially that Jon Stark boy who always wants to join Dany and her friends when they're braiding each other's hair.





	My Favorite Valentine

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn't really fit into any of the prompts for the Jonerys Valentine's week on Tumblr, haha, but YOLO, as the kids say.
> 
> Thank you Alice my dear @aliciutza for the loveliest of moodboards :D
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day, ya filthy animals.

“This is so  _ stupid _ .”

“Daenerys Targaryen, what have I told you about using that word?”

“Ugggggh!”

Dany rolled off the couch and onto the floor, flailing her arms and legs. Full diva mode, as her brothers called it. The picture of a misery-filled eight-year-old as her silver-gold hair covered her face. Beside her head, Drogon gave a displeased hiss and scampered from the sitting room. A great shadow fell over Dany as she blew her loose hair from her face, and groaned in absolute agony.

“Daenerys, they’re just Valentine’s Day cards. You act like you’ve been sentenced to exile.” Her mother stared down at her, hands on her hips. She nudged Dany’s leg with her foot. “The sooner you sign them and put your classmates names on the envelopes, the sooner you can watch TV.”

“But  _ Muuuum! _ ”

“Don’t you ‘but Mum’ me, young lady. Up!”

Dany made a big show of clambering to her feet, huffing and puffing and accidentally stepping on Rhaegal’s tail. The brown tabby yowled and jumped away.

“Sorry, Rhae!” Dany called after him, but like his brother, Rhaegal hurried off. “Do I  _ have _ to, Mum?”

“Yes, you do, Daenerys. Everyone in your class is making Valentine’s Day cards for each other. You can’t show up to the class party tomorrow without them, now can you?”

“Yes, I could.”

But her defiance could not hold her mother’s stern gaze for long. 

Dany stared at the messy heap of envelopes and Valentine’s Day cards scattered over the coffee table. Viserion, their third cat, was stretched out across half of them. She’d at least gotten to pick what kind they bought. Her very favorite Star Wars characters decorated each square. Some were tiny green Yodas (“Yoda one for me!”) and a few were the pretty Han Solo guy (“I’d be Solo without you, Valentine!”). A bunch that she’d decided to give to the girls had Princess Leia on them (“From one Princess to another! Happy Valentine’s Day!”). She was sure her friends would like those best. Even Darth Vader glowered up at her, insisting, “Together, our friendship will rule the galaxy!”

“Daenerys, I know it seems silly to you, but it’s the spirit of the day. Celebrating love and  _ kindness _ . And,” her mother gave her a sly smile, “eating lots and lots of chocolate!”

Dany squealed as her mother scooped her up and tickled her belly. She laughed and kicked until she ran out of breath. Only then did her mother set her back on the couch. Rhaella tucked Dany’s hair behind her ears and kissed each of her flushed cheeks.

“Go on, little bug, get busy.”

Her mother headed for the kitchen, but Dany bit her lip and called after her. “Do I have to make one for  _ all _ the kids?”

“Of course, Dany. It’s not fair or nice to exclude someone.”

Dany chewed harder on her lip, then scowled at the pile of cards. Viserion mewled softly at her, blinking his big blue eyes. At least she had Darth Vader cards to give out. That’s exactly what  _ he _ deserved.

“Love, what’s wrong? Is one of your classmates being mean to you?”

“No,” Dany muttered, but she couldn’t refrain herself. “He’s just a  _ stupid _ .”

“Daenerys, we do not call people stupid. You have better words than that, and you’ll use them.”

“But he is a stu—”

Her mother’s glare stopped her dead. Dany huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, then lifted her socked feet to poke at Viserion’s belly. Instead of fleeing like his brothers, the flame-point tabby shut his eyes and rolled onto his back. Unsigned cards rained to the floor. Rhaella sighed and scooped them up.

“Who is this boy?”

“He’s—and I just—and then he— _ ugh! _ ”

“Daenerys.”

“He’s just some boy who keeps trying to… he wants to join us when we braid our hair at recess on Tuesdays!”

“He wants to—and is there a  _ good _ reason you haven’t let him?”

Dany rolled her eyes. Mothers could be so silly sometimes. “Jon’s a  _ boy _ , Mum, and besides his cousin  _ makes _ him ask. No boy would really want to sit and braid hair. Boys are stu—”

At her mother’s look, Dany pursed her lips and went back to poking Viserion’s furry tummy with her toes.

“Perhaps, he just wants to help braid, little bug. Rhaegar likes to braid his hair, and as I recall, he taught you how to braid  _ yours _ .” 

Dany supposed that  _ was  _ true, but it didn’t stop those Stark boys from being stupid.

Her mother patted her leg and waved Dany toward the Valentine’s cards. “Go on, get busy. Make Jon’s card first, and  _ be nice _ .”

Jon Stark was a stupid dum-dum, no matter what her mother said. 

Dany watched until her mother’s skirts disappeared around the kitchen doorway, then she slid off the couch once more, face-planting on the carpet. Viserion meowed in concern above her.

Jon was just some stupid boy doing a stupid dare each week. With his silly wild curls and his big dumb sparkly eyes. His cousin, Robb, was a year older than them. They only saw him at recess, but that didn’t stop Robb and his friends from standing by the fence and snickering whenever Jon came over to where Dany and Missy and Irri sat braiding.

“Boys are stupid,” Dany told the carpet. 

Another meow, prolonged and sad. Dany rolled onto her side as Viserion hopped down and draped himself over her neck. He was warm and soft and purring as he nudged his cold, wet nose against hers.

“Mmmrrroooow?”

“That’s right, especially Jon Stark boys.”

 

* * *

 

Her class’s Valentine’s Day party took up the last hour of the school day. When Mr. Lannister called for everyone to take out their cards, Dany joined her classmates in pulling the little stack out of her backpack, scowling all the while. Beside her, Missy had become a giggle monster. Irri didn’t seem to be faring any better across the room. Their desks were arranged in a big horseshoe shape, but at least they weren’t seated by their names. If they had been, then Jon Stark would be sat to her right, just like his name was listed next to hers on their class bulletin board for their art projects. His drawing of Wonder Woman made her squiggly doodle of her family kitties look  _ terrible _ .

“Stop giggling,” Dany told Missy, but it did no good. Her best friend only blushed and giggled harder. 

In the center of their desks, Mr. Lannister rolled in a small table with chocolates and brownies, sweets and drinks. Then he looked around to make sure everyone’s cards were ready and clapped his hands.

“Excellent! Boys, this year we’ll have you make a lap first to exchange cards. Lance, Jon, let’s start at your end. Once you’re done, head back to your seat and I’ll hand out snacks.”

Dany huffed at that pronouncement. She wasn’t even allowed to get up and force her stupid cards onto people who didn’t want them, but the boys could? She sunk down in her chair and kicked at the leg of her desk as the two boys began their lap. Lance went first, handing out a card to each person and wasting no time. Like Dany, he didn’t seem to care for the cards. Jon followed behind him as Mr. Lannister brought brownies and drinks over to Dany and Missy.

“Something troubling you, Dany?” Mr. Lannister set her cup of orange juice on her desk, but held onto it since Dany was still kicking her desk leg. He glanced at her stack of envelopes. “Ah, Star Wars! An wonderful choice.”

“I guess.”

“They’re certainly my favorite.”

“Right.”

Lance continued to zip down the line toward them as Mr. Lannister returned to the snack table. And Jon… was it her imagination or did he keep looking over at her? 

_ If he asks to braid hair again, I’ll pour my juice on his big, dumb head. _

Missy exchanged cards with Lance, then Dany did the same, scowling to make sure he didn’t stop to chat. Jon made his way down the line, still glancing over at her, turning more and more red with each person he traded. By the time he reached Missy, he looked like he’d painted his face with strawberry jam.

“This one’s for you, Missy.” He fumbled as he handed over the card, but Missy only giggled harder than ever and passed him one with a big cartoon pony on it. “Thanks.”

Then he was looking at Dany again, with his red face and big gray eyes. He seemed quite nervous as he stepped over to stand in front of her desk. For a moment, Dany had the urge to kick him in the shins.

“H-hi, Dany.”

Dany grunted at him. Her mother would have been furious.

“Yeah, I guess.” 

She handed him the Darth Vader card she’d put his name on. No envelope like the others, to make sure he got the villainous message this time. Instead of his tentative smile falling, however, Jon’s thin face broken into a brilliant smile. 

“Star Wars? Cool!” He laughed as he read the pre-packaged message on the card—Together, our friendship will rule the galaxy!—then tucked it into his pocket. She’d wanted to scribble it out and write something rude telling him to go away, but her mother had forbidden it. “Um, I’ve got you one, too.”

“Well,  _ duh _ .” Dany kicked her desk again. “We had to get them for everyone.”

“Oh, yeah, right, but I, um… Mama made me get a box from the store for everyone, with superheroes on them, but… well, they only had the boy superheroes and I know you like Star Wars so I… I made you one instead.”

Instead of taking a card from the dwindling stack in his hand, Jon reached into his sweater pocket and pulled out a card twice as big as the rest.

“I-I hope you like it.”

Bemused, Dany took the offered card and turned it over. A big cartoon drawing of Rey from the newest Star Wars movies stared up at her, her big blue lightsaber at the ready. Above her head, the card read—

“You’re a REY of sunshine! Happy Valentine’s Day.” 

Dany gazed at the picture, from the carefully drawn lines to the shading and colors, even the letters that were lined up so they were all the same height and shape. Her heart gave a funny belly flop inside her chest.

“I know its not Princess Leia, but Rey’s pretty cool, too, and she kinda does her hair like you, so… do you like it?”

She mouthed wordlessly at him. Before she could answer, Mr. Lannister arrived to usher Jon down the row.

“Move along, Jon, you’re holding up the line.”

Jon offered her another hopeful smile and moved to the next desk. On her left side, Missy leaned over to get a good look at Jon’s hand-drawn card.

“Are you  _ sure _ we can’t let him braid with us tomorrow?” Missy ran her fingers over the little braids he’d drawn into Rey’s cartoon hair buns. “Cause he can draw them super good!”

Dany had no answer for her. But when their cards were all exchanged and everyone was back at their desks with juice and sweets, Dany found herself watching him again. When Jon smiled at her this time, Dany smiled back.

 

* * *

 

“See? That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

Her mother smiled at her on the drive home from school that afternoon. In the back seat, Dany’s face hurt from how big her grin was. She hadn’t stopped since Jon’s card. Even now, while the rest were tucked away in her backpack, getting torn and crumpled by her notebooks and books, Jon’s card lay carefully across her lap.

_ You’re a REY of sunshine! _

Her face went hot as she admired it once more.

“Did you have fun, little bug?”

“The… food was good.”

“Oh?” Rhaella peered back at her in the rearview mirror. “And who’s card is that you’ve got out? Do I have to start worrying about you dating already?”

Somehow, Dany’s face managed to burn hotter. She traced her fingers over Jon’s careful letters.  _ You’re a REY of sunshine! _

“It’s from Jon.”

“The Stark boy who wants to braid hair with you?”

Dany nodded and watched the houses rolling past out the window. “He… he made me one. Everyone else got the store ones like I gave out, but… he drew one, just for me.”

“That’s very sweet of him. Did you thank him for doing that?”

“I-I forgot.”

“Hmm, well, thank him tomorrow, okay? He must like you a lot to make one just for you.”

When they arrived home, Dany rushed up to her bedroom. She tossed her backpack on her bed, but kept Jon’s card in her hands. Like a delicate flower, Dany cradled it close to her, gave it a very gentle hug, then pinned it to the corkboard beside her bed. A burst of happiness filled her up as she stared at it until—

“Dany’s got a  _ boyfriend! _ ”

Viserys, her fifteen-year-old brother, cackled and began pelting her with grapes.

“I do not!”

“Dany’s got a boyfriend! Mum, Dany likes a  _ boy! _ ”

She chased him from her room.

 

* * *

 

At school the following day, Dany found she couldn’t look at Jon across the room. All morning, she fumbled through their lessons, dropping her pencils and writing Jon’s name instead of what Mr. Lannister had up on the board. By recess, she was quite glad to leave the stuffy classroom and get some fresh air. Both Missy and Irri were prone to fits of giggles after yesterday’s Valentine’s card exchange, but Dany still joined them for their Tuesday braiding party.

“I want to braid Missy’s today!”

“I get Dany’s!”

For once, Dany let the other two decide who braid whose hair. She took a seat in their patch of grass, but her fingers fumbled with Irri’s hair as she gazed about the playground. Searching, searching for those dark, wild curls…

After a few minutes, Dany found him, scratching away with a bit of chalk on the basketball court. She stood up.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry, why are you—Dany, where are you going?”

She waved off Irri’s and Missy’s shouts and headed over to where Jon was sitting, his tongue poking out as he drew on the asphalt. When her shadow fell over him, Jon squinted up at her.

“Oh! Hi, Dany, um, do you want to… uh, to—”

“You can come braid with us, if you want,” Dany told him. Her face went all to lava again, burning and hot and bright red. “But if you tug anyone’s hair you can’t braid no more. And,  _ I _ get to braid yours.”

“Really?” Jon beamed as he hopped to his feet. His jeans were covered in chalk dust. “Are you sure? Cause if you—”

“I asked, didn’t I?”

Jon’s smile grew so big his eyes went squinty. Dany’s heart did another belly flop and she turned away to head back to Missy and Irri. Her friends, instead of frowning at the sight of a boy joining them, began arguing at once over who got to braid Jon’s chin-length curls.

“Oh, please, I want to braid yours!”

“No, I do!”

“Irri, you already got to braid Dany’s today!”

Dany glowered at both of them until they fell silent. “I get to braid Jon’s today.”

After a short discussion on the rest of their braiding party, everyone sat in a square and began to braid. And really, it was quite nice, Dany found, with Irri’s bubbly talk behind her and Jon’s silky, soft curls in her hands. He was quite good at braiding Missy’s hair. By the time recess came to an end, they were all sporting new braids, and Jon seemed quite pleased as their class lined up to go back inside.

Dany made sure she got the spot in front of him as Missy and Irri babbled on in front of her.

“Thanks for letting me braid today,” Jon said. He tugged at one of the little braids on the side of his head, then tucked it behind his ear like the young Jedi did. “Look, I’m a Padawan!”

A great giggle erupted from her. Dany slapped her hand over her mouth, horrified, but Jon only giggled, too. Together, they snickered all the way back to their classroom, but Dany didn’t head right to her desk when they arrived. She lingered at Jon’s side as he went to his seat, working up her manners and courage.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I… I forgot to thank you. For your card yesterday,” Dany said, another blush warming her cheeks. “It’s my very favorite. I hung it up in my room. So… thanks.”

Jon grinned again, but his cheeks turned pink, too. “I’m glad you liked it. I wasn’t sure if—”

Dany leaned in and kissed him, quick, on his cheek. His whole face turned redder than a cherry as she rushed across the room and fell into her seat. It took all afternoon for Dany to manage to look over at Jon’s side of the room for more than a blink, but when she did, as the rest of the class packed up to leave, Jon smiled once more and held up a drawing he’d done in his notebook. 

Darth Vader’s helmet was on the page as a dark outline, and a bunch of pretty pink hearts filled the inside. Along the top and bottom, he’d returned the same phrase she’d given him the day before: Together, our friendship will rule the galaxy!

Dany grinned back and gave him a thumbs up.

Twenty minutes later, Dany was buckled into the back seat of her mother’s car as they waited for the crossing guard to let them onto the road. She could just see Jon and his auburn-haired cousin Robb talking and laughing as they went through the crosswalk. Her mother glanced back at her.

“Did you thank Jon today, little bug?”

Dany nodded, then blushed when Jon caught sight of her and waved with both arms. She couldn’t quite hear what he shouted, but his frantic arm movements had caught her mother’s attention.

“Is that him?”

Dany bit her lip and waved back, avoiding her mother’s eyes as they pulled out onto the main road. 

“I see he’s sporting some new braids. Did you let him join you today?”

She nodded again. “Yeah, Jon’s pretty nice. For a  _ boy _ , I mean.”

“And you thanked him for his card?”

“Yeah.” Dany twisted in her seat to gaze back down the hill where Jon was walking home. “He’s my new favorite boy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone still have all their teeth? Do I need to sweep some up off the floor?
> 
> :)
> 
> For anyone reading TDS or Embers, um... wish me luck with those updates, lmao -slaps his keyboard listlessly-
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
